Problem: In 16 years, Brandon will be 3 times as old as he is right now. How old is he right now?
Answer: We can use the given information to write down an equation about Brandon's age. Let Brandon's age be $b$ In 16 years, he will be $b + 16$ years old. At that time, he will also be $3 b$ years old. Writing this information as an equation, we get: $b + 16 = 3 b$ Solving for $b$ , we get: $2 b = 16$ $b = 8$.